1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an adjustable child support structure, and more particularly, to an adjustable seat back with side sections that fold inwardly to provide lateral support for a child or remain flat to provide a wider seat back for the child.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Conventional child support structures, such as strollers, high chairs, and swings, generally include a seat having a base and back portion. The base and back portions of the seat usually include unisectional, nonadjustable cushions. The cushions are usually made generally planar and wide enough to accommodate a toddler. The width and planar aspects of these unisectional cushions can present problems with the use of the seat by younger infants. By making the cushion wide enough to accommodate the larger child or toddler, the cushions are often much wider than the children who are first beginning to use the stroller, such as a young baby or infant. In addition, infants often are not developed or coordinated enough to sit up straight in the seat Since the unisectional cushion provides no lateral support, the infant often tilts laterally, slumping sideways in the seat.
Several seat backs have been proposed that provide a method for narrowing the width of the seat back so that the seat back is usable by both infants and toddlers. Such conventional seat backs have generally been difficult to adjust due to cumbersome and complex designs. In addition, they have been difficult to adjust due to inconvenient placement of the adjustment mechanism on the seat back structure. Moreover, conventional seat backs have generally required manual actuation of the adjusting mechanism and have generally only been adjustable between the wide, or upright, and the narrow, or reclined, positions.
For example, in one conventional seat back, the side supports are individually operated so that the operator must adjust and release each side support separately. In another example, the seat back is adjusted by manually operating a single lever disposed on the seat that adjusts the side sections into an extended position or a retracted position. Another design requires insertion and removal of a number of individual pieces.
A need exists for a simple mechanism that can be used to adjust a seat back through a range of motion between a narrow position and a wide position. A need also exists for a mechanism that does not require direct manual manipulation of the actuator so that the seat back actuator can be conveniently and remotely moved into the desired position.